Our Story

We opened in The Loop 45 wonderful years ago. Here’s our colorful story!

A Landmark St. Louis Restaurant & Music Club

We first opened our doors way back in 1972, when the Delmar Loop neighborhood was a desolate, empty street that had seen better days. “We wanted to open a welcoming place that was all about music, pop culture memorabilia, and great food to share a beer over,” say owners Joe Edwards and Linda Edwards. “We were young and idealistic and within a week of opening set out to revitalize the Delmar Loop.”

In the beginning we just had a hot dog machine and served peanuts and beer nuts with our beer. But in 1974 we expanded our tiny kitchen for the first time – to make room for a grill to cook what would become our famous burgers. “I felt St. Louis wanted a great burger, and I was hoping to provide it,” Joe says.

We had a tune-spinning Seeburg jukebox from day one. “I had a collection of 30,000 records that I rotated in and out of the jukebox. I wanted people to experience music they might not hear otherwise,” says Joe. That jukebox, which people from all over the country started coming to hear, was the beginning of our music history.

Music History Gets Made Here

In 1985 we opened up the Elvis Room to bring live music into Blueberry Hill. It was the next step for us and for helping to make The Loop the live music center of St. Louis. Fast forward to 1997: the legendary live music room the Duck Room is born. “We cut a hole in what is now the Piano Room,” Joe says, “put a Bobcat in there and dug five feet out of the basement ground in order to lower the floor. I wanted the room to have high ceilings and a big stage.”

The Father of Rock & Roll and first person inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Chuck Berry, inaugurated the Duck Room and played over 200 consecutive monthly concerts in the intimate 340-capacity room. Joe tells the story of how that came to be: “Chuck and I have been good friends since the early ’80s. One night in 1996 he was reminiscing about the smaller clubs he used to play when he was just starting out and how much he would love to play an intimate club again in contrast to large stadiums. There was a split-second pause. We looked at each other and said ‘Let’s do it.’ That’s how Chuck Berry came to play once a month at Blueberry Hill in a legendary concert series.”

Blueberry Hill mourns the passing of Chuck Berry. “He was the father of Rock & Roll, played 209 monthly concerts in our Duck Room, and was a dear friend above all,” Joe says. “Goodbye, my friend.”

Many bands play on the same historic stage Chuck Berry did for so many years. We host fantastic acts in the Duck Room and Ed Sheeran, the Lumineers, and Grandmaster Flash have brought the house down. Music history really does happen here.

An Unforgettable Atmosphere

“I came for the music and stayed for the terrific atmosphere.” – Big Lebowski star John Goodman

Your eyes will be popping when you see our pop-culture and music memorabilia collections! We’re like a museum you can wander through with a beverage. Joe personally collects and fills our nearly one hundred warm glowing display cases. “When I was seven I started collecting comic books, records and baseball cards,” Joe says. “At 10, I started collecting toys, sheet music, and oak furniture. At 12, it was vintage lunch boxes. At 16 I started collecting classic Wurlitzer juke boxes.”

If that’s what Joe was collecting as a kid (and storing for future display at Blueberry Hill!), just imagine what he’s collected since. Wait – don’t imagine – come see it! In person! It’s all on display for you to explore here at Blueberry Hill. Joe’s most popular collection is probably his photos with celebrities.

What will be your favorite collection? Star Wars? The Simpsons? Howdy Doody? Elvis? Pac Man? Vintage Pez dispensers? The largest collection of Chuck Berry artifacts and historic memorabilia on display in the world? We could go on but we’d love to see you here and have you tell us which ones you like!

One of the 10 Great Streets in America

The Delmar Loop has come a long way over the past 40 years. From the day Blueberry Hill opened, owner Joe Edwards knew he had to work on revitalizing the neighborhood. His creative vision, risk-taking, and civic leadership have helped transform The Loop into one of the most vibrant districts in the United States.

Joe has a dedication to historic preservation. He has renovated numerous historic buildings in The Loop, including the beautiful Tivoli Movie Theatre. He encouraged one-of-a-kind specialty shops and cultural institutions to make The Loop their home.

Joe started the non-profit St. Louis Walk of Fame over 25 years ago and now there are more than 140 brass stars and biographical plaques lining the sidewalks of The Loop. He led the way for The Loop to expand eastward when he opened The Pageant concert venue. Unique shops and restaurants have sprung up around it since then and The Loop has grown.

He envisioned a hotel that would be The Loop’s very own and opened the Moonrise Hotel. On its rooftop bar, he built the world’s largest man-made revolving moon, a sight to see. He continued to make The Loop a true 24/7 neighborhood by opening the 24-hour Peacock Loop Diner.

He recently opened the new Delmar Hall concert club, an 800-capacity music hall. It enhances The Loop’s reputation as a live music center of St. Louis.

Joe is also spearheading the Loop Trolley, a fixed-rail vintage trolley system which will link The Loop to Forest Park and two MetroLink stations. It will start running this spring!

With Blueberry Hill as its epicenter, the Delmar Loop has been designated “One of the 10 Great Streets in America” by the American Planning Association and we’re sure you can see why!